"SOG" Ward vs "King" Krusher Kovalev @ 175 lbs / 12.5 stone: Who wins?

[Agent Mulder]

Prediction? Kov is gonna have a hard time keeping his chin up and making eye contact with Max come post fight interview.

Ward UD.

[LoadedWraps]

BTW they both have 30 wins nao

Just goes to show you how ahead of the game I am.

[TheUptownKid]

I rate it 55/45 or 60/40 in Kovalev's favor, I could see him winning by KO as well as by UD. People turned their back on Kovalev after Chilemba fight, but than Ward vs Brand happened. Now Ward clearly outboxed Brand, but in the last 1/3 of the fight he tried everything he could to knock him out and he couldn't. He was so desperate and frustrated. Go watch in between round 11 and 12, Hunter is urging him to pressure Brand and knock him out and Ward got angry at Hunter, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The reason I mention Ward failing to KO Brand is because it really made me ask myself how is he supposed than to keep Kovalev off him if he can't make him respect his punches. The only way I see him frustrating Kovalev is with his movement and clinching. Chilemba is a real top 6 or top 7 fighter at 175 and he still lost 3 to 9 against unprepared Kovalev, nearly got knocked out, while Brand is a an unranked top 60 type of fighter.

Things that could play in Ward's favor are his movement, clinching, frustrating Kovalev with his elusiveness and counter punching, especially as I've seen Kovalev getting lazy a couple of times right after throwing 2 or 3 shots... Normally he does but it looks like sometimes he forgets to follow up with some kind of a defensive movement. I've seen a couple of times fighters nailing him just after he throws the straight right. Also his jab-jab-straight right looks kind of predictable. I've never seen Kovalev fighting on the inside so I'm imagining him having some problems with Ward there IF HE ALLOWS HIM TO COME THAT CLOSE.

Things that could play in Kovalev's favor are obviously his power, as well as Ward's non existent power, which makes me think it would be the reason why Ward won't be able to keep him off of him. Kovalev has faster feet, has two great straight hands, a jab and a straight right, so no matter how well rounded Ward is, despite the fact that Ward normally doing very good fighting from the outside, I see Kovalev winning tha battle at the long range.

I like your breakdown and wish more Posts were like this. I disagree however in that I feel ward has just as fast foot movement as kov and I also feel he is a stellar defensive fighter. Kov has power edge clearly but he is a bit as you say predictable. I also feel like the style to beat ward is an unconventional one where he can't set up defense and neutralize strengths. I feel like throughout wards career he has shown that he is an elite game planner who can impact his opponent's strength through adjustments. I feel like kov is a known quantity and unless he swarms ward, which isn't necessarily his style, his single punches and 1 2s will be expected. This being said, I feel power is the great equalizer in boxing and should he get a big punch in all bets are off. I like ward 60-40 but can't guarantee anything, SHOULD BE A GREAT FIGHT!

[Weltschmerz]

Backing KOvalev, but can see Ward winning this, controversially, through cuts.

Expect tactical head-butting.

Did you rise from the dead?

[StefanTosic]

I like your breakdown and wish more Posts were like this. I disagree however in that I feel ward has just as fast foot movement as kov and I also feel he is a stellar defensive fighter. Kov has power edge clearly but he is a bit as you say predictable. I also feel like the style to beat ward is an unconventional one where he can't set up defense and neutralize strengths. I feel like throughout wards career he has shown that he is an elite game planner who can impact his opponent's strength through adjustments. I feel like kov is a known quantity and unless he swarms ward, which isn't necessarily his style, his single punches and 1 2s will be expected. This being said, I feel power is the great equalizer in boxing and should he get a big punch in all bets are off. I like ward 60-40 but can't guarantee anything, SHOULD BE A GREAT FIGHT!

Thank's man, it's because I don't like giving the 3-word-predictions, I hate when people type "Ward UDs him" or "Kovalev destroys him" without any explanation and any opinion on what would work for either fighter and how their styles clashes.

On Ward's footspeed - My opinion is it may be equal to Kovalev footspeed, but I have to add their arm lenght and their power to the equation because he would be there with a fighter with at least the same footspeed, but with a longer reach and more powerful straight shots, that's what makes me think Kovalev would probably win the exchanges at long range.

Yes some of Kovalev shots seems predictable, for example his jab-jab-straight right: A lot of times there's what seems to me as a big time window between the jabs and the right hand, but it looks to me like his previous opponents couldn't take adventage of it because they were in full defensive mode, but I wouldn't be suprised to see Ward making him miss slipping outside of that right hand and counter him with a left hook if Kovalev forgets to take a quick step back after throwing the right.

I see Ward doing much better at close distance because Kovalev needs some space for his punches... and combined with clinching, it would give him a lot of trouble, unless he takes quick back steps like he used to do against Hopkins and Pascal when they tried to close the distance.

At mid-range Ward is at least as nice as Kovalev, plus he's elusive so he may be better there for a couple of early rounds but he's probably going to accumulate a lot of punishment there.

Ward is surely going to make him miss more than usual, similar to Chilemba, but I don't see him outclassing Kovalev, if he wins I can see him winning a close decision at best. Barrera landed a lot of shots on him especially in the first half of the fight, I'm sure Ward would be much better prepared for Kovalev, but if Kov lands most of the shots Barrera landed, I think it would be a lot of accumulated punishment and that's why my prediction is Kovalev either by KO or UD.

[Madison Boxing]

Backing KOvalev, but can see Ward winning this, controversially, through cuts.

Expect tactical head-butting.

yeah, really can see it happening. I hope kovalev head butts him blatantly back if he does it, i'd rather kovalev get DQ'd then have a rerun of kessler v ward.

[LoadedWraps]

yeah, really can see it happening. I hope kovalev head butts him blatantly back if he does it, i'd rather kovalev get DQ'd then have a rerun of kessler v ward.

No way Ward gets away with holding Kovalev because Kovalev won't let him. Kovalev will push him off and throw hard shots and Ward will either back up or be forced to stay in the oven and trade blow for blow toe to toe. He will only get away with rolling a few shots in range for a few rounds, Kovalev will time him and figure out his patterns and hurt him.

[LoadedWraps]

Bumped for that loser motor city cobra.

he put me on ignore after I bodied him all over this place.

[LoadedWraps]

WAR Kovalev!!!

[Sun_Tzu]

Backing KOvalev, but can see Ward winning this, controversially, through cuts.

Expect tactical head-butting.

You know Ive watched that fight between Lewis and Rhaman a hundred times and I never thought that hook connected or barely connected. He ***ed him up with the hook then put him to sleep with the right. Its been what 20 years and I just saw that.